The Tragic Tale of Carina Walters
by villainsdontgethappyendings
Summary: From the moment Carina met the Collector, her life gracelessly tumbled towards her unfortunate end. This is the life of the Collector's assistant. This is the tale of Carina Walters.
1. Chapter 1

_The Tragic Tale of Carina Walters_

_**AN: This fanfiction focuses on the backstory of the MCU Carina Walters, who we saw as The Collector's attendant. It does not focus on the comic variant of Carina Walters, The Collector's daughter. Strictly movie-verse.**  
_

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Sitting leisurely over the white stone bench at the end of the sizeable garden of her father's home, Carina Walters looked the perfect picture of Krylorian beauty. Wearing a simple green dress that complimented her smooth, pink skin perfectly, the young woman reclined back on the stone bench and closed her eyes, enjoying the sun's warmth across her face.

Indeed, the beginning of Carina's life was written in a far more beautiful hand than its end...

"Carina! _Carina_! You are slacking off _again_, aren't you?"

Carina's eyes snapped open as she winced against the sound that cut through the tranquil air and shattered her little bubble of peace at the end of the garden. As much as it rang true that the woman was shirking her chores, the Krylorian still frowned as her older sister approached her.

Krylorians were renowned across the galaxy for their beauty, but Carina's older sister Venita, was the _epitome _of Krylorian splendour. Her skin was a smooth Carnation-pink, and she stood a little taller than Carina, her frame slender yet curved. Her eyes were the rare gold colour that sometimes graced her people, whereas Carina had been given the common pink eyes of most, much to her jealousy. Venita wore her hair long, the same dark shade as her younger sibling's, though the ends faded to a soft blue where Carina's faded to red.

"Beautiful days should not be wasted on _chores_." Carina noted, her tone a little surly. She made no move to rise from her comfortable perch upon the bench, even when her older sister stood before her, arms folded.

"If that were the law of our world, _you _would claim _every _day to be beautiful in a different way!" She retorted, before putting her hands over her heart and fluttering her eyelashes in a mockery of Carina: "_Oh, but the sun is beautiful today! Oh, but the rain is so soothing today! Oh, the tornado tearing through the land is a fierce beauty, I could not __**possibly **__work!_"

This brought rise from Carina, who got to her feet in indignation, a pout pulling at her lower lip.

"I do _not _sound like that!"

"_Oh, but the fire ravaging the farmlands is beeeaauuuutiful, ooooh, look at me, I'm Carina and I think work is for the ugly people_!"

"I didn't say that! Venita!"

Venita stopped her impersonation of Carina, though a smile still tickled her face; she wasn't one to upset her sister, but she did so enjoy winding her up. A soft giggle bubbled from her lips, and she raised a slender finger to point at Carina.

"Well, _you _were meant to be pulling weeds, not taking root yourself. How long have you been lounging around out here?" Venita scolded her, and her little sister swiped the accusing finger out of the way with an irritated slap.

"Not long! I was just enjoying the sun!" Carina protested, though she could see Venita, quite rightly, did not believe her. None of her chores had been done, and this was no great surprise.

Carina had always been a somewhat lazy woman, or so others told her. In truth, the Krylorian would say she merely had an appreciation for life. What use was life if one spend it pulling _weeds _in the garden, looking at all the faults instead of enjoying the _lovely _parts of the garden? What use was the sun if not to be enjoyed? And what was the point in doing chores _anyway_ – Krylor had _far _more important things to be worrying about than a few _chores_.

The thought caused Carina's heart to sink and she looked away, her sparkling pink eyes filling with sadness.

Indeed, all was not so beautiful on Krylor as she would like the believe, as she would like to _forget_.

The look was not lost on Venita, and her sister sighed heavily before placing a comforting hand on Carina's shoulders.

"...You know everything has to be perfect today. You know how important it is."

"...I hardly think our guest is going to notice if we have _weeds _in the garden, let alone decide whether or not to save our planet based on whether or not the trees are pruned!" Carina replied haughtily, still not looking up from the ground.

"I wouldn't be so sure of that; I've heard tales of this man. Quite peculiar...if the tales are true, he's left planets to their doom for less than a wayward weed blotting the landscape!"

Carina frowned, though did not reply. She did not know as much about their anticipated guest as Venita did, but already she was concerned that they were entrusting the lives of their planet to a lunatic. Whoever heard of someone neglecting to help over something so trivial?

And what help they needed. The Planet Krylor found itself in a dark situation...people dying in the streets, people dying in their beds, people dying where they stood... a plague had taken root upon the beautiful planet, and despite their best efforts and top minds, the disease had not been halted. Many had fled to other planets, to Xandar mainly, to escape the despair, but it wasn't long before their neighbouring planets had decreed that no Krylorian be allowed entry, lest the plague spread further.

Then, the breakthrough they all hoped for, prayed for, finally came to light – a cure could be made. But the main ingredient for the serum was damn-near impossible to harvest, and certainly could not be found on Krylor: the spinal fluid of a Celestial contained the healing properties to destroy the wicked disease reaping the lives of her people. Such a thing was a rarity of the highest order, and the only viable source?

Knowhere. A lawless pseudo-planet ruled by the reclusive man due to arrive on the planet for negotiations any time now.

Carina swallowed the rising panic in her throat. Her father sat upon the high council of Krylor, and had been given the task of meeting with the Knowhere dealer, to negotiate a price for a large quantity of the Celestial spinal fluid.

Every life rested on her father's shoulders...

...If he should displease the apparently fickle and unpredictable man from Knowhere...

"Carina? Venita? Our guest has arrived. Come, your father requires your presence."

Carina was snapped out of her worries by one of the housemaids calling from the back doors of the house. She found herself nodding, though quickly realised the woman was unlikely to be able to see her from this distance, earning a laugh from Venita.

"Come. Let us greet our guest. Though...perhaps without the added foliage, my sweet sister!" Venita's voice was still laced with a laugh, as she reached a hand up to remove some leaves that had apparently fallen into Carina's deep brown and red-tipped locks during her lazing on the bench. Once tidied, she slipped her hand into Carina's and lead her through the gardens back to the house.

Carina found she could not leave her sense of trepidation behind as easily as she could that little stone bench at the bottom of the garden...

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They stood dutifully by their father, hands clasped in front of them, smile perfectly in place across both sisters' faces as they waited to greet the guest from Knowhere. Alas, her father did not have the same skill of smiling through fear, and his nerves were plainly evident on his deep pink features. Carina could hardly blame the man – she was sure she could not smile over the pressure of every life on Krylor weighing down on his shoulders and his heart...

And, as it turned out, she could not wear her smile through sheer _shock_. The housemaid had entered the room, leading what could only be described as the most _bizarre _man Carina Walters had ever clapped eyes upon in her life. He was quite unlike anything she had ever seen, yet akin to her kind in some ways. It set her on edge, such a clash of familiar and unfamiliar. He looked, physically, as they did – two arms, two legs, no extra limbs or eyes or horns or whatever spectacular differences aliens from other planets often had. And yet...everything about him was _peculiar_. The way he walked, the way he looked...and, later she would discover, the way he _spoke_.

"Lord Walters, our guest has arrived." The housemaid announced with a curtsy, before politely leaving the room without another word. Carina's eyes did not follow her, still stuck to the unusual man before them – a shock of almost-white hair standing on end like a man around him, tanned skin in stark contrast to the hair on his head, a single marking trailing from his lip down his chin...and his _eyes_. Gods, she had never seen the like before. The man looked so _tired_, exhausted...almost _dead_ to the world.

Those same, heavily-hooded eyes snapped up as the man became aware of Carina's gawking and she discovered the fatigue of those eyes to be far more pleasant than his _direct _look. He didn't seem to be looking at who she was, rather...

...he was looking at _what _she was.

Carina shuddered despite herself. She was sure the man noticed, as an almost silent, hollow laugh huffed from his chest, before he turned his attentions to her father.

"Lord Walters..." He spoke slowly, deliberately, with the same monotonous exhaustion that dulled his eyes, "...it is an honour to be invited into your home."

The man stepped back and bowed with a flourish, his arms out wide and head bowed low. Carina and Venita exchanged sideways glances, and Carina could see her older sister was biting her lip in an attempt not to laugh.

The man straightened up again, every movement as slow and disjointed as the rest of him.

"...My name is Taneleer Tivan...you may know me as _The Collector_...now...how can I be of service?"


	2. Chapter 2

**AN: Thank you for all the lovely feedback - truly motivation to write more! **  
** vinff7, SilverWolf47, Guest - Thank you for the compliments!**

** desiderata - I cannot take much credit for fleshing out Carina's species - it's noted on the Marvel wikia that she is a Krylorian and that the species is noted for its beauty. But I hope to do her justice and explore her character more as the fic goes on! Thank you for taking the time to review!**

** Guest#2 - Her name was Maverdevia in so far as a marker given to her by the cameraman on Thor 2! But her name is revealed in GotG as being Carina. I didn't think it was the case that Taneleer had changed her name or something. Thank you for the feedback!**

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The family quickly discovered that Taneleer Tivan's seemingly open offer for help was nothing more than pleasantries and a charade of kindness. Oh yes, the strange man seemed only too content to help their planet...but not out of the goodness of his heart, it seemed.

Carina found herself wondering more than once if this strange, blank-faced creature even housed a heart...nothing seemed to animate him, a mask of boredom and ever-present exhaustion fixed firmly on his face even when confronted with the pleas of a dying planet, of thousands of lives begging for help. As if he had seen it a hundred times before, and become desensitized to it...

"B-but surely you must realise the gravity of what you are asking for! An entire _planet_ from the Krylorian Empire, in exchange for the cure we need? Forgive me, Tivan, but..." Carina's stammering father's words trailed off under the freezing gaze of the Collector; he would need to choose his words carefully if not to insult the other man, "but...you...well, if the planet we gave you was to be used like the others in your collection...as a planet to store part of your collection on...we'd be uprooting _billions _of lives!"

"I am not an unreasonable man, Lord Walters..." Tivan drawled, though his face scarcely moved, his cold glare still daring the other to deny his request, "The creatures living on the planet may remain...though they would belong to my collection..."

"But you must _realise _that price...it-it's far too _steep_! To save our planet you are asking us to doom billions of lives to...to _slavery_?"

The word seemed to echo around them, as a heavy silence fell into the room. It was stifling – Carina could feel it crushing her chest with a weight of sheer _fear_, and as her wide eyes shot to her father, she could see the very same weight _shattering _her father's shoulders, his whole frame beginning to shake. Oh true, his words had been right and just – Carina knew her father was a good man, a good man who would not be able to abandon the lives of a few let alone _billions _of lives...but just how many lives had he doomed to their fate through an attempt to make this clearly mad alien see reason?

The gods had been cruel to put their salvation in the hands of this Taneleer Tivan...

All eyes settled upon Tivan, waiting for his reaction to Lord Walter's words. Anger, annoyance, understanding, compromise; what he did next would determine the fate of Krylor.

Carina swallowed the lump in her throat, the tiny noise sounding like glass smashing in her ears among the deathly silence.

And then...the Collector _sighed_.

A slow, sorrowful sigh, though Carina suspected the sound of sorrow to be nothing more than an act. His colourless eyebrows arched up, and his gaze flicked down to his feet as he spoke, addressing Lord Walters without looking at him:

"...Such a pity...I have gathered many objects from the Kree-Xandarian war of late...I had hoped to find somewhere to put them..."

Carina's jaw dropped.

Was...was that _it?_ No note of their plight, no offer for compromise...and just how _much _had this man _stolen _of the universe, that he would need an entire _planet _as room to store it all? She couldn't comprehend any collection being large enough to require a whole planet's room, and her father had spoken before as if Tivan had _many _planets already used for such a purpose.

As her mind reeled, she almost missed the flurry of white and black fur as Tivan turned to leave. Her father's voice caught in his throat, fear and guilt strangling him—

"Wait! You can't—"

-and, as it was, his voice did not recover before Carina's did. The Krylorian woman darted forward a few paced, her hand out in desperation to stop their only salvation from walking out of the door.

The Collector stopped.

"...You can't...you can't just...leave us to _die_." Carina finished her outburst, her voice being far meeker than she had wished as she addressed the man who did not even turn to face her, his back blocking any sign that her words had had an effect. "Please. Please, help my people. We are dying. Do you not see that?" She added, somewhat encouraged by not having to look at the unnervingly dead eyes of the Collector as she spoke to him.

A long pause coiled in the air between them...

"...My dear..." Tivan's voice finally unfolded, slowly, deliberately, "...that is the way of the universe."

His cold dismissal was accented once again by footfalls as the Collector began to walk away again, and this time, Carina's stunned and desperate words did nothing to stop his path.

Frantic, she turned to face her sister and father, eyes wide with fear of what this all meant, heart hammering in her chest. Her sister's face was one of sorrow, where her father's was one of simple and utter _defeat_. Of all their family...Carina had been the one cursed with bold courage to _speak_.

"Is there nothing we can _do_? We can't just let him walk away!" She pleaded with them. Apparently, she did not know this man as her sister and father did, for they looked completely resigned to the fact that they had no choice.

"Carina..." Venita barely whispered, her eyes filled with tears, "...Carina, we can't sacrifice another planet to save our own..."

"We shouldn't be _asked _to! There has to be another way, there has to be!" Carina retorted, "He cannot leave us to die! _I _cannot leave us to die!"

"Carina—"

But the woman had already turned on her heel and darted out of the room, following the Collector's path in a hopes of catching him before he left the dying planet behind. Her feet carried her through the halls, pounding the stone floors until she broke out into the sun once more—and skidded to a halt at the scene that greeted her.

Tivan was standing at the foot of a starship, something having stopped him from boarding and leaving Krylor. At his side was a blue-skinned woman garbed in a plain white dress; darker blue ridges decorated her skin and though Carina could not see her face well from this distance, she could see the cloud of sadness that hung over the alien.

Standing between them and the starship was one of the guards of Lord Walter's home. They had always hired two guards to stand outside the doors of their home, for no greater reason than to protect their wealth. Like every planet, Krylor had its share of thieves...but, as it was, it appeared one of the guards had been stricken with the same desperation at seeing the only path to Krylor's salvation making to leave them to die...

Carina started to walk closer to the scene, and as she approached, she could make out which of the guards was not only blocking Tivan's path, but pointing his gun at the man – Orion, the newest of the two guards and one Carina did not know well. He held his weapon out, though his hands betrayed his panic and trembled slightly.

"We _need _your help." The guard ground out, though Carina was sure his teeth were slammed together to stop them chattering rather than in anger. "You cannot just leave!"

"...Yes, I can." Came Tivan's blunt reply, and Carina found herself wondering once more what had happened to the man to make him so blind to the emotions of others. "...Now please...I would ask you to lower your weapon, sir...you are frightening my assistant..."

Tivan gestured with an open palm to the blue-skinned woman beside him, and Carina was sure that the fear radiating from the crimson orbs of the woman's eyes was not born of fear for Orion. How had the woman ended up tethered into being the Collector's assistant?

There was no time to wonder further; Tivan had made to move again, apparently happy to walk towards the Krylorian guard despite the threat, clearly making to walk _past _him and onto the starship. Tivan's assistant walked with him without question...and Orion's panic peaked, as he realised his threat was not being heard, his plea ignored...and that his family would die along with the rest of Krylor. Carina ran forward, hoping to help Orion stop the Collector from leaving, to try and convince him to help, to-

"N-No, you—"

**-BANG!**

A gunshot brought Carina to a halt once more, a gasp cutting out of her throat as she watched the figure before her...crumple to the ground...

Orion's gun powered down after the shot...and he dropped it to the floor...his fear...his panic...it had distorted his aim and ruined his control, and he had, accidentally or not, pulled the trigger and shot at Tivan in a desperate bid to keep him from leaving Krylor.

...He had missed.

The Collector's assistant lay upon the ground, a single wound blooming on the white dress she wore...

...and Taneleer Tivan did not falter in his step. He did not look back. He merely brushed past the stunned guard blocking his way, boarded the starship, and left Krylor without a word.


	3. Chapter 3

**AN: ****This chapter is pretty short compared to the last two - my apologies for that! The next one should be longer, as we start to get into the plot a bit more. **

**Thank you to the folk who have been kind enough to leave reviews - they do motivate me, so I ask that you please feel free to drop me a review, long or short! :D**

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"The Celestial's spinal fluid is _key _to defeating this plague that threatens our world! We cannot be expected to sit idly by because some...some _diva _refuses to negotiate a price for something he himself has _pillaged_!"

The hall filled with roars of agreement, voices bold and courageous and sure.

_Because not one of you is having to look into those dead eyes as you speak out._ Carina thought to herself, looking to her father in concern, _not one of you would stand up to this 'Collector' if he were actually in the room._

True enough, only Carina herself had been bold enough to speak out the day before, when the Collector had visited their planet and so quickly left them to their fate. Orion, the family guard, had spoken out only with his weapon...resulting in the death of Tivan's assistant. The poor Jotun girl had died on an alien planet, light years away from her home. Carina had felt more than pity for the woman as they had taken the body away. She had felt nothing short of sorrow for the nameless Frost Giant.

Yes, the events of the day before still rang in Carina's mind, and she could see that the same events still had a hold of her father. The older Krylorian hadn't spoken a word since they had been summoned to the Krylorian Council to discuss his failed bartering with the Collector, and not one of them seemed willing to entertain the idea that the Collector simply would not be bartered with.

"Tivan was quite clear – he will not trade the fluid for anything less than a planet from the Krylorian Empire." Carina's sister, Venita, addressed the council in her father's shell-shocked stead, "You cannot blame my father for refusing the price. Who are we to say our lives are worth more than another planet's?"

"Had the trade been made, both planets in question would house _living beings_. Declining the offer will ensure Krylor is a dead one! And who's to say the Collector won't simply wait for Krylor to be wiped out by this plague and take it for his own needs? He wins either way!"

Another round of raucous agreement made Carina look to her feet. It wasn't fair...these so-called _bold _and _brave _men...she was sure each one would have offered any number of lives to save their own...

"Come now, Lord Walters was quite right in his choice. We should not bend to this man's will. An entire _planet _given over to this madman? And for what?! As you say, this fluid is not something he owns – he simply _lives _where it does! He took it from the Celestial's head...why can we not do the same?"

This time, the councillor's voice was not met with loud agreement. This time...a deathly silence filled the room.

"..._Take _the fluid...you mean...take _Knowhere_? By force? From...from _him?_" Venita asked, incredulous.

"One man and a small planet of outlaws against the might of the Krylorian army? I should hardly think these outlaws would be terribly loyal to this Taneleer Tivan...they'll save their own skins and flee on sight! The Collector will have no choice but to allow us access to the spinal fluid then – he can't take on an _army_."

Murmurs of agreement rippled through the hall, but were deftly snuffed out by Carina's voice.

"No, no, you mustn't underestimate him. You mustn't think—"

Quickly, her voice was overthrown by the musings and discussions of the councillors, her pleas disappearing into the noise. They didn't want to listen to her...they didn't have time to hear her fears. She had looked into the eyes of Taneleer Tivan, and she had seen _everything_ within him that ought to be feared. Something of him chilled her to the bone, unnerved her and set her on edge.

But desperation was driving the Krylorians on, and despite the state of her father, the pleas of Carina and the wisdom of Venita...

...The Krylorian army agreed to storm Knowhere.

They would take Knowhere by force. They would take the Celestial's spinal fluid from the Collector, and they would save their people from the plague.

And yet, Carina could not shake the feeling that such an action would bring their doom ever quicker. Something of the man had wriggled its way beneath her skin, and for the life of her, Carina Walters wished only that she would never have to look the strange man in the eyes ever again.


	4. Chapter 4

**AN: Apologies for not updating in a while – I've had a hectic few weeks, needing to move out in the space of a few days in order to work a new job. I don't have internet in my new flat yet, and only a limited amount on my mobile internet, which I am using just now. I hope you enjoy the chapter! Thank you again for the reviews. I would love to hear more from people!**

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For all Carina's want to never see the dead eyes of the Collector again, as soon as it came to light that her father would be making the trip to Knowhere, both Carina and Venita became adamant about joining him. A small family they may have been, but they stuck together throughout thick and thin, and this day would be no different. Though their father protested the journey would be too dangerous, the fiery boldness of Carina and the quiet confidence of Venita left no room for argument.

Their father had been through enough, carrying the weight of Krylor's fate on his shoulders. They would not wave him off as he was sent to Knowhere to oversee the Council's new plan, as punishment for failing in his negotiations with Tivan.

The sister found themselves stowed away like cargo, sitting at the edge of the starship and watching the Krylorian army march by, some rushing past with weapons and ammunition and crates of what only the gods knew. Carina's wide, pink-red orbs followed everything, curiosity having always been a trait of hers. The army seemed...so small. Had so many already fallen to the plague that threatened to wipe Krylor out?

She jumped a little as she felt a hand slide over her own, and turned to face the smiling visage of her older sister.

"You looked scared." Venita stated simply.

"I'm not scared, I'm just..." Carina's voice trailed off as she went back to looking at the army bustling by them, a frown lightly creasing her face. "..._Concerned_. This man, the Collector...there is something about him. Something..."

Her voice trailed off again as she recalled for the hundredth time in her head the moment they had locked eyes, and the icy cold waters of fear that her heart had plunged to in those few seconds. She hadn't been able to phrase it any better to herself now as she had then – it was like he wasn't looking at _who _she was, but _what _she was. Straight past her...he was so utterly detached to _her_ as a person, there was no hint in his eyes of consideration for _Carina Walters_ or even what she had _said_, just...a Krylorian specimen. It was more than a man who thought himself superior and looked down on others; such an act would still require him to recognise her as an individual. No, he hadn't been looking down at her. He hadn't been mocking her status or seeing her as beneath him. He hadn't recognised _her _as a person at _all_.

How could a person become so utterly..._indifferent _to others? To see them only as creatures, and become blind to their _person_, their feelings, their characteristics, their _plight_?

And if he did not recognise others as more than what they physically were...surely he would not be restrained with morals should he need to kill...to defend his home...

Carina screwed her eyes shut and shook her head suddenly , her hair dancing about her face as she did so. As she stopped and opened her eyes again slowly, sadly, she finished her sentence, "...something _cold_."

Venita's hand squeezed tighter in reassurance.

"I agree. But—"

Her sentence was cut off by the loud roar of the starship starting up, beginning to take flight. They waited for the engines to settle them into a smooth flight towards Knowhere before Venita spoke again, "—But we shan't have to see him again. One man cannot take on an army. And we only wish to take what we need to survive...let him keep his precious collection, and surely he will be happy enough?"

* * *

It took little over two days to reach Knowhere. Carina's ever-present curiosity brought her to the ship's windows, and she peered out at the...the _thing_ they called Knowhere. To her, it looked like...well...a giant, macabre _head_ floating in space, hollowed from what she supposed would be scavengers. Entering Knowhere, she found she was not entirely wrong – the whole place was being _mined _like some bizarre quarry.

When they said the spinal fluid was on Knowhere, she hadn't quite expected it to be so literal...

Her eyes trailed across the vast mining facility, before taking focus on the tiny dots scattered around the place. The workers, outlaws and thugs as the Council had said, were stopping to look at the Krylorian warship...and then scattering, running in every direction.

They had been right. These people had no loyalty to Tivan and were choosing to run away rather than engage themselves in whatever fight Tivan had brought on himself.

_One man cannot take on an army._

Venita's words echoed in her head, and for the first time in days, Carina began to smile. Perhaps this would be peaceful enough. Tivan surely wouldn't try to fight even a small army – he was only one man. Surely he would let them take the spinal fluid they needed to save Krylor, and leave in peace...he couldn't possibly—

Her thoughts were scattered by a sudden _ripping, _metal screaming as it was rent asunder. Carina only had time to look around briefly before finding the howling winds pulling through the corridor out a sizable hole in the ship's side that had been torn open by...something. She realised this too late, and was pulled off her feet and sucked towards the breach.

"No, no, _no_!" She yelled, tears streaking down her face. Twisting and screaming, her hands clawed helplessly at the smooth ship floor, unable to find a hold, unable to save herself from the fall that awaited.

Suddenly, her hand found something to latch onto, halting her just at the breach of the ship, her feet already hanging out of the ship and dangling to the air below. A hand had shot out to grab hers and, looking up, Carina expected to see Venita, her ever-protective sister, or a Krylorian soldier.

She had not expected to see Taneleer Tivan.

The man had, to her confusion, boarded the ship and, to her _utter _confusion, saved her from falling to her death. The winds that rushed by from the breach to the ship's hull whipped at his hair as it was hers, and pulled at his fur cloak, but he seemed otherwise unaffected by the vacuum's pull outside.

Through watery eyes, she could just about make out a glow in his free hand, an energy that seemed to keep him in place...was it that same energy that had torn the ship open, the same energy that had transported him here?

She couldn't ask, or ask why he had saved her; for all the air swirling around them, none seemed to stay long enough to find its way to her lungs. All she could do was hold on, and gasp for air, and hope he didn't have a change of heart and let her go.

As it was...he didn't. The golden-orange energy in his hand swirled brighter and, in a flash of light, Carina found herself unceremoniously _dumped_...onto a steel floor. The last thing she saw before the light blinded her was the face of the Collector..._changing_...cruel spikes and blank eyes and...

On her hands and knees, her whole body trembling, she took solace in the solid ground beneath her, even if it had arrived without warning. For a few sweet seconds, she did not care how the Collector had teleported her, or why he had saved her – she was alive.

She was alive.

And she had no idea that, very soon, she would wish she had fallen out of the ship and plummeted to her death instead...

Still trembling, the Krylorian pushed herself up to her feet, her breath coming ragged as she gasped for air to calm herself. It wasn't until then that she looked around herself – glass cases filled the room, a room which was so high and so wide she could not easily see the ceiling or walls. Only hapless wandering and luck brought her to a door, which she gingerly pushed open to find herself outside, standing on Knowhere...looking up at the starship that was plummeting down in the distance, a golden-orange energy tearing the metal apart mercilessly, pulling it into dust.

It wasn't until then that Carina realised – the outlaws working on Knowhere hadn't fled for having no desire to fight for Tivan.

They had fled to save themselves from his response...

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**AN: If anyone is curious – the "changing" Carina briefly saw in the Collector was him changing into his true form. In the comics, he takes the form of an old man, but he has a true form which is much bigger and has a rather spiky look about it. :) The golden-orange energy he is using is the power the Elders of the Universe have; the Power Primordial. I haven't read much of this in the comics, but from what I gather, it is a remnant of the energy of the Big Bang and can be manipulated for near-limitless effects. **

**Reviews will be duly appreciated forever in Taneleer's collection. **


	5. Chapter 5

**AN: Twenty days without an update, I am so very sorry! I moved into a new flat and was messed around getting WiFi set up in here. But now I have it, and now here's the next chapter! I hope it was worth the wait! Thank you to my lovely few reviewers of the last chapter – it is motivation for me to keep writing. :)**

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Rhodolite eyes quivered and swam with tears as the Krylorian ship smashed to the ground in the distance.

Dead.

The only word that crept forth in Carina's mind as she stood in the doorway of Tivan's museum looking out into Knowhere, the only word needed to shake her to her bones...

Dead.

Everyone aboard that ship was...dead. How could they not be? She herself should have died the moment Tivan used whatever power it was he possessed to tear a hole in the side of the ship. She survived only at his whim, but her sister, her father, every Krylorian on that ship that had come to Knowhere as a last resort, a desperate attempt to save their people...all...dead.

Her knees caved, and Carina sank to the ground. Oh, she was bold, she was brave, and she was often regarded as fiery by the disapproving looks of the Krylorian elders, but this moment brought Carina to her knees, her body weak with fear and realisation.

They were _all _dead.

Not just those upon the starship, oh no...but every man, woman and child upon Krylor would succumb to the plague that swarmed through their planet without the cure, the cure the Collector had opted not to part with.

Perhaps Carina would have remained there, kneeling on the floor and staring out to the smoke rising from the crash site, had a voice not sounded behind her, disjointed and jarring in the previous silence.

"...Do close the door, my dear...you are letting in a draft..."

She didn't need to tear her eyes away from the sight of the smouldering wreckage of her people, her culture, her _life_, to know who was standing behind her. And yet, with a venomous glare piercing through the hot tears that swam in her eyes, she did so, turning to face Tivan with every intention of throwing caution to the wind and attacking the other when—

He blood chilled.

Standing next to Tivan, his hand resting on her shoulder, was Venita, her older sister. Fear rattled her irises, but otherwise, she looked unharmed. She stood rigidly next to the Collector, eyes fixed upon Carina, though she could not hide her terror.

Scrambling to her feet, Carina ran to Venita and clamped her arms around her, half tackling the older Krylorian, half-embracing her, with enough force to knock Tivan's hand away.

"I thought you were dead...I thought you were dead..." Carina wept into Venita's shoulder, not caring for the presence of the other; her sister was _alive_, through the same means Carina was, teleported to safety for whatever reason the madman beside them had. For these few, brief seconds, Carina did not care what that reason was. Venita was alive...

Venita's arms encircled Carina, holding her in a protective embrace as she rested her chin on Carina's head. As she did so, her eyes flicked up to fix the Collector with a steely gaze.

"And for what reason do we both live, when you have so _easily _rid yourself of my people?" She asked.

Tivan blinked slowly, his own hollow eyes unwavering under Venita's icy pink diamond gaze.

"..._Payment_. Your people owed me a debt...you are to be payment of that debt."

Carina felt her heart plummet as she pulled herself away from her sister to turn and face the Collector incredulously – _they _owed _him_ a debt? How? In what way had her people taken anything from—then it hit her.

"...Your assistant." She muttered, looking away as she recalled how the Jotun female had been gunned down on Krylor, robbing Tivan of his assistant, "You're replacing your assistant."

"Correct."

"Then why do you need both of us? One assistant is surely replaced by one other." Venita pointed out, perhaps hoping to bargain freedom for Carina.

Another slow blink answered her before his slow drawl did.

"...The ship was already falling...I saved the first Krylorian I encountered who was in good condition." Tivan explained, nodding slightly towards Carina, "But...as luck would have it, I found a better specimen before the ship crashed. A gold-eyed Krylorian...a _rarity_ indeed..."

His words were utterly devoid of emotion, and simply observations of Carina and Venita's biology, gene pool, _species_. Upper class, high bred Krylorians...a species noted for its beauty, Venita was considered particularly beautiful for the rare eye colour of molten gold she possessed, where most Krylorians had common pink eyes like Carina's own.

He had saved Carina to replace his assistant because she had been in the right place at the right time, and a good enough example of a Krylorian for Tivan to put in his collection...

...and he had saved Venita because she was a better specimen. Would he simply get rid of the now-unneeded one...would he get rid of her?

"...I trust you both know how to _clean_."

If her heart had stopped beating in fear of her fate as an unneeded component in Tivan's collection, it began to hammer again at his words.

"We...we are both to be...your _assistants_?" She spat; the man must be mad, to think either of them would stay in such a place out of his own conceived debt from her people.

"Yes." His answer was clipped and simple, "Though...of your own free will, of course...I am aware that only one of you ought to be payment for my lost assistant, which leave the other unpaid for...I trust you would accept a payment of a certain cure sent back to your home planet, in exchange for you remaining here as my assistant?"

Freewill, a seemingly fair offer, but both he and Carina knew she could not decline. If Venita was payment and replacement for his former assistant's death, then Carina would be _bought _with the saving of her planet. Her life in exchange for the much-needed cure...

"...How will I know you kept your word? You could keep me here and leave Krylor to die and I would never know."

"...Oh...I trust _someone_ will inform you..."


End file.
